How George Lucas ruined Star Wars, and what Disney needs to do to save it
Lucas should not be allowed anywhere near the Star Wars movies, and if they ever make another Indiana Jones, he shouldn’t be involved in that either. If Disney is smart, they will have security guards escort Lucas off the premises if he tries to visit the set. All three of the most recent Star Wars movies, and Indiana Jones 4, has Lucas fingerprints all over, and as it turns out, that is aparently not a good thing.
Starting with Phantom Menace, Lucas hired a 10 year old kid to play Anakin Skywalker, the boy who eventually grows up to be one of the greatest movie villans of all time, Darth Vader. Why not just start Anakin out as a teenager, like Luke in the original triology? If he had to be so young, why did he have to be so lame? Forget about JarJar, Jake Lloyd is the worst thing about that movie. Also, the fact that Lucas managed to take three great actors (Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman) and make them look like amateurs. The story was boring, the dialogue was even worse. And all that talk for years about how he was ‘waiting for the technology to be available’ so he could make the movies doesn’t make sense to me. They all looked horrible and fake. When you make a movie entirely in front of a green screen, it’s just not going to feel real.
What Disney is going to need to do is come up with a central character that will keep people coming back to the theater. That’s really the only way a franchise can keep going for the long term. Indiana Jones, James Bond, Bourne, Jack Ryan, and others are some examples. Bourne faultered when Matt Damon left and they tried to introduce a new character into the mix. Bond can keep on going forever because the character is an icon, and unlike most movie franchises, audiences will accept an actor change every few years as long as the movies are decent. Same could be said for Batman. Hopefully Disney recognizes the importance of personalizing the new story by keeping character-focused with the action and special effects serving as a back-drop. That’s what the original Star Wars trilogy did, and that’s why we still love those movies today.
Hayden Christensen played the older Anakin Skywalker as a whiney adolescent, constantly pouting about how the jedi counsel doesn’t appreciate him enough, how Obi Wann doesn’t compliment him more, how everyone’s against him. He talks like a sad little kid who had his toy taken away. He’s not likable, not fun, and therefore, we don’t really care when he suddenly turns evil. Lucas’ poor dialogue, story, and directing don’t help matters much, either. Picturing that Anakin in the darth vader suit in the original films makes him seem less scary. Also, the fact that there’s numerous plot-holes when you connect the new and old movies, it seems like Lucas was just making things up as he went along.
Hopefully Disney can deliver something that is deep, personal, and moving, while at the same time delivering the fun, action, and adventure that made the older movies so great. One thing is for sure – the franchise can only improve from here.